Prior to this past January, I’d been a (relatively) happy Verizon Wireless customer. Most of my family and friends were on Verizon, which made calling them free. I had free nights and weekends. I also had a pretty decent messaging plan that allowed me to send texts, picture messages and video messages to my fellow Verizoners as much as I wanted. Those were the good old days – the days where my Motorola E815 (pictured to the left) was all I needed. But eventually, the simple features of the E815 weren’t good enough. I needed more.
In Summer 2008, I graduated to the BlackBerry Pearl. By this time, I was a pretty heavy Twitter user and also felt the need to be connected to other networks – Facebook being the major one. I was pleased with the Pearl until, one day, my trackball stopped moving. I took it out and replaced it with a new one. A few weeks later, I experienced the same issue. On top of this, I had a gripe with the web experience on the Pearl as well as the library of available applications. Where were all the cool apps, like an app to find the cheapest gas station in the area? Or how about an app for browsing eBay? I eventually realized that, in order to satisfy my geeky smartphone needs, I’d not only have to change my phone – I’d also have to change networks.
So I took the plunge. I said goodbye to Verizon and my Pearl (pictured to the right), jumped ship to AT&T and snagged myself an iPhone. Not only do I have a phone that lacks a crappy trackball, I also was able to ditch an unneeded device (my iPod) and I gained access to arguably the coolest library of smartphone applications known to man – most of which are free.
I feel I can now be productive anywhere. I can manage three separate Twitter accounts through Tweetie. I can edit all of my blogs through the Wordpress application. I have a ridiculous number of calendars and email accounts synced through the iPhone’s included mail and calendar applications. And of course, I can keep tabs on my friends and family through the Facebook and Myspace (yes, Myspace) applications.
The web experience is phenomenal. I can visit almost any web site imaginable without being dished a less-than-stellar mobile version. I can visit my bank’s web site, go through the authentication process and view my balance without hassle. I can breeze through my subscriptions in Google Reader much, much faster than I could on my Pearl. The browsing experience is so good that many in the tech community are clamoring for an Apple tablet device that works the same way.
Of course, the iPhone is not without its flaws and most iPhone owners will be more than happy to complain to you about a few. A major omission is MMS. For a phone that does what the iPhone does, the lack of support for multimedia messaging is nothing short of mind-boggling. If you were to send me a picture or video message right now, I would be unable to view it. Instead, I’d be sent a text messaging directing me to a web site. There, I would be forced to enter a code and then pray to the mighty MMS gods above that it worked. The codes work for me about 40% of the time. If they don’t, guess what – I can’t view the message. Period.
Luckily, the iPhone’s 3.0 firmware (coming this summer) will add MMS support as well as a bunch of other features Apple somehow left out of their plans – push notifications, copy/paste, landscape keyboard for email/SMS/MMS/etc., device-wide search and much more. There are also little birdies flying around that speak of a new iPhone coming this summer. If you’re looking to join the club, your best bet is to wait until the new device drops.
All in all, I’m extremely happy with my decision to leave “the network” and join Team iPhone. I’ll be even happier when the 3.0 software comes along to plug in most of the missing features I crave. If you’re as plugged in as I am, or even if you aren’t, the iPhone is definitely a gadget you might want to consider. Go to an Apple Store or an AT&T sales location. Play with one. If a friend has one, try it out. If you decide to make the switch, shoot us an email and let us know.
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